Ruth Hansom – Food for Thought

Expect to have the royal treatment at the renowned and critically acclaimed gastropub, The Princess of Shoreditch, where chef Ruth Hansom reigns supreme. At the fledgling age of 25, Hansom is regarded as one of the UK’s most exciting and leading young chefs. Her résumé is markedly impressive; she was the first woman to win the Young Chef of the Year Award in 2017, was a finalist on BBC Two’s Great British Menu, and, most recently, has been coronated as Head Chef of The Princess of Shoreditch, in the beating heart of East London. 

Yorkshire-born Hansom’s love of cooking began when she started working on her green thumb in her mother’s back garden, where she planted all sorts of vegetables and apple trees. “When you grow your own stuff, you obviously want to learn how to cook it,” she says. After binge-watching endless cooking programmes, Hansom took part in her school’s “Future Chef” scheme; a competition for 11-16-year-olds to build industry-based culinary skills and knowledge. To take part in the national final, Hansom travelled down to London and was left in awe when dozens of people took their turn to hand her their business card, asking if she wanted to work for them. 

Hansom then made a “life-changing” move to London, where she undertook her formal training at Westminster College Kingsway, mentored by Master of the Culinary Arts Fredrick Forster. Afterwards, Hansom worked at the Boundary Restaurant for a year before she secured a position at The Ritz, where she worked for half a decade and rose to the acclaimed status of Chef de Partie. “It was a tough kitchen to work in, but equally, very rewarding,” Hansom says, “you learn so much and have a chance to do everything from scratch.” Hansom’s tireless efforts meant that whilst there, she won Young Chef of the Year and The Ritz won its first Michelin star in 110 years. Hansom was just 21. 

After craving a change of scene, Hansom became Head Chef at the 5* Luton Hoo hotel in June 2018. After solidifying her culinary style at the hotel, Hansom then went on to work at Pomona’s in Notting Hill. “At Pomona’s, I really wanted to focus on the produce and suppliers. Things were a lot more stripped back, and we tried to let the ingredients speak for themselves.” However, as with thousands of other restaurants, fate dealt a cruel hand in the form of a worldwide pandemic, and Pomona’s was forced to close with the first lockdown. 

“Every cloud has a silver lining though,” Hansom says cheerily, “the owner of The Princess of Shoreditch had been following me on social media and reached out to ask whether I wanted to work there.” The rising star then took on the role of Head Chef between lockdowns. The gastropub is just a stone’s throw from Old Street on the City/Shoreditch border, tucked away from the hipster hordes. According to Hansom, the menu at the gastropub is centred around “provenance”, celebrating the best of seasonal British produce and Hansom’s classical French training.

Think of The Princess of Shoreditch as an upstairs, downstairs, sort of gastropub. In the “old-fashioned brass bar” on the ground floor, Hansom has curated a menu that is a twist on traditional pub classics. Instead of a beef wellington, expect a beef and truffle wellington. Instead of a typical Sunday lunch of meat and two veg, expect Rhug Estate venison tartare and Iron Age pork belly with Bramley apple. For those after a quick bite, Hansom has created an inciting array of bar snacks from truffle and duck fat popcorn to chicken, date and peanut terrine and treacle-cured sea trout with pickled fennel.

“We then have a black spiral staircase which takes you upstairs, and it’s a complete contrast,” Hansom says. Here she serves up a five or eight-plate gourmet tasting menu. Highlights of the summer tasting menu include; British corn – a reimagination of barbecued corn made from charred kernels and beurre noisette – served with charcoal and hazelnut praline and pickled mushrooms and nectarine, red mullet ceviche with Isle of Wight tomato, salt aged duck with artichoke, chicory, potato & duck leg terrine and cashew and miso choux buns.

“The duck at the minute is great,” Hansom says proudly. “It comes from Caterite in Cumbria, where they age the duck in a purpose-built salt chamber. We then serve it with a striped potato terrine and pickled cherry with duck liver parfait. We make a sauce with all the bones as it’s important for us to use everything but also to keep it refined. You go to many Michelin star restaurants that only use one part of an animal and get rid of the rest. At The Princess of Shoreditch, it’s important to us to use everything.” 

For Hansom’s last ever supper, she picks a starter of “fresh ceviche”, followed by a main course of “lasagne, the way my mum used to make it,” taking seven or eight hours and requiring two bottles of red wine to cook the ragu down properly. For her dessert; a cheeseboard of “Beaufort or comet cheese”, washed down with a glass of pinot noir.

You can book a table at The Princess of Shoreditch here.

Try Ruth Hansom’s recipe for St Ewes’ Yolk and Watercress Ravioli here:

Ingredients:

For the ravioli:

Homemade ravioli (see recipe below)
6 bunches of watercress
150g mascarpone
50g parmesan
1 clove minced garlic
Butter to glaze
3 egg yolks

For the celeriac puree:
2 celariac
100g cold butter
200ml milk

For the roast baby onions:
12 baby onions
10ml rapeseed oil
Salt
Sugar
1 spring of thyme
A drop of balsamic

For the glazed morels:
3 glazed morels
Chicken stock
1 knob of butter

For the tender stem florets:
3 tender stem florets
1 knob of butter

For the watercress foam:
500g watercress stems
200g sliced button mushrooms
200g shallots
Half a head of garlic
6g peppercorns
2 springs of thyme
500ml white wine
1L chicken stock
1L double cream
Lecithin (see recipe for amount)

For the artichoke crisp:
2 Jerusalem artichokes

Method:

For the ravioli

1. Make the ravioli filling; pick the leaves from 6 bunches of watercress and blanch them (retain stalks for foam). Squeeze out all of the moisture from the watercress using muslin cloth and chop roughly.

2. Mix with the watercress; mascarpone, parmesan, 1 clove minced garlic, maldon and pepper to taste and press into a 7cm ring.

3. Make the pasta dough by blending; 600g 00 flour with 3 eggs, 3 yolks, 65mk rapeseed oil and 30g salt. Bring together into a ball and then vacuum pack. To make the Ravioli, roll out to the thinnest setting on the pasta machine. Cut into 11cm squares. 

4. Place the watercress mix onto one of the squares and make a small well in the middle. Put an egg yolk in the well (keep whites for souffles)

5. Brush the edges with yolk and place another square on top and seal. Cut with a 9cm fluted cutter. 

6. To serve place in salted simmering water for around 4-5mins and glaze in butter.

For the celeriac puree

1. Peel and dice the celeriac. 

2. Steam until soft but still white and then blend until smooth with cold butter and milk. 

3. Season to taste, pass and chill. 
   

For the roast baby onions

1. Cut 12 baby onions in half. Place face down in a hot pan with 10ml rapeseed oil, salt, sugar and a sprig of thyme. When golden brown, deglaze with a drop of balsamic and place then pan into the oven at 180c for five minutes. 

2. Keep the onion in the skin until ready to serve. 
   

For the glazed morels

1. Prep the morels ensuring no dirt remains. 

2. To serve heat in a small amount of chicken stock, reduce and add a small knob of butter to glaze, season with salt and pepper. 
   

For the tender stem florets

1. Cut the tenderstem at an angle.

2. To serve, cook in salted water for one minute and glaze with butter. Season with salt.
   

For the watercress foam

1. Sweat watercress stems, sliced button mushrooms, chopped shallots, half a head of garlic, peppercorns and sprigs of thyme. 

2. Deglaze with white wine. Add white chicken stock and reduce. Add double cream cover and leave to infuse for one hour. 

3. Pass and adjust seasoning with salt, sugar, pepper and white balsamic. 

4. Add Lecithin (5g per 500ml) when heating to serve and buzz with the hand blender to foam.
   

For the artichoke crisp

1. Wash and dry 2 Jerusalem artichokes

2. Slice as thinly as possible on mandolin, keeping nice rounds.

3. Fry at 160c until lightly golden. 

4. Allow to crisp under the hot lights. 

5. Cool and store in an airtight container. 

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